Solid Proof
by InterdimensionalHitchhiker84
Summary: Lily Evans hated James Potter. That fact never changed. However, there was one man she loved with all her heart. A certain man with two hearts. But Madame Koverian will stop at nothing to get to this man, including taking his wife and un-born child and manipulating their time-lines. The Doctor doesn't remember, but when he sees his son, will his dreams be recognized as reality?
1. Chapter 1

_Another new story. I know. I'm sorry. The idea for this came from Cap. J. Harkness. She also helped me work through some of the kinks to get it started. _

_Author's note with more info at the end. If you have questions, feel free to ask. :)_

_Disclaimer: Not mine. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

CHAPTER 1

The TARDIS landed gracefully and without incident, and as he collected the papers he was looking for, the Doctor vaguely noticed the candles burning behind him. He hit a switch on the control panel on his way by and all the little flames were extinguished. Making sure his key was securely in his pocket, he exited his craft and closed the door behind him. When he looked around, he saw a few beings staring at him and he smiled pleasantly at them as he set off as a stroll through the street.

Meandering through the stalls and houses, he glanced at what was there to sell and smiled approvingly at several things while frowning at the large displays of weapons. When he finally reached his destination, he knocked on the small door and waited outside it, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels.

The door opened inwards and a person appeared. "Yes, hello," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Not sure exactly why I'm here, but I left a note for myself, telling me to come and look for Barktuth." The girl looked at him warily, but must have decided that he wasn't dangerous, because, speaking in gobledegook, she began to give him directions.

"Just go up that path there, take a right at Saren's stall there, and tell the cart driver that you need to go up to the bank. Four knuts should cover the cost. Once there, ask one of the tellers to direct you to Barktuth." Nearly smiling, she closed the door. Whistling calmly, the Doctor followed her directions.

It took some digging, but the Doctor finally found some of the right currency and the driver gladly accepted the large gold coins with a wide grin. The ride was exciting and he enjoyed the breakneck speeds while trying to understand how they were traveling upwards as quickly as they would have been had they been going down.

He walked confidently over to the teller with the shortest line and waited his turn. The goblin merely grunted at his inquiry and pointed to a door. "Down the corridor and fifth on your left." The Doctor strolled down the marble hallway and knocked politely on the wooden door.

The goblin inside, who he could only assume was Barktuth, looked at him oddly before asking what business he had.

"Ah," said the Doctor. "Well, you bring up an interesting question. I found a note, you see, directing me to come here and find you."

The goblin looked skeptical.

The Doctor smiled pleasantly.

"Could I have a sample of your blood, please." It was not a question.

The Doctor was wary of this, but extended his hand over the proffered bowl anyways, allowing the goblin to knick his thumb. Three drops of the orangish liquid fell onto the dish's surface and Barktuth frowned at it.

Without warning, a stack of papers and files appeared on the desk.

"Ah, it seems you've done business with us before," he proclaimed, examining one of the pages. "And will again!" The goblin seemed ecstatic now as he riffled through the material. "Ah, yes! I see exactly why you're here." He pulled a roll of parchment from a drawer and inked a quill before writing out several paragraphs at a speed that was beyond impressive. He then pulled a velvet drawstring bag from a different drawer and passed them both over to the contentedly oblivious alien. "I wish you luck on your business venture Mr. Smith," Barktuth offered, standing. "You will find the shop one street over and eight buildings down."

He bowed slightly and the Doctor returned the action before stepping out of the office.

When the sunlight hit his face, the Doctor took a deep breath, attempting to determine his current location in the universe. He got conflicting results and blamed all the energy in the air. Shrugging, he set off down the bustling street, his long hair and velvet tailcoat only drawing a few glances.

He glanced at the shop sign, noting that it sold furniture and luggage. Entering, he met the glance of the boy behind the desk. "Ms. Sanders is waiting for you," the boy said, nodding back to the curtain covering the entrance to the back of the shop.

The Doctor wound his way through the trunks, bags, and shelves on display and pushed the curtain aside to duck underneath it.

"Mr. Smith!" the woman bent over a wooden chest commented. "You're right on time. Just a moment and I'll be with you." She put a few more intricate carvings in the wood's surface with her wand before brushing off her robes and turning to face him.

Her kind face was worn and aged by hard work, but her eyes were warm and open, only a hint of steel reflecting her role as a hard businesswoman.

The Doctor greeted her with all his charm, taking her hand in his and kissing the knuckles.

Ms. Sanders got right down to business though. "You mentioned, Mr. Smith, that you might be interested in examining my undetectable extension charms."

"Ah, yes!" The Doctor was still completely lost, but over the past months in this body, he'd gotten used to not remembering important information. She led him to a recently finished trunk and opened it to show him the larger interior. "Ooh, this is fascinating," he cooed while brushing the inside walls with his fingers. "How do you achieve these kinds of results?"

The woman chuckled, rubbing her hands together. "The same way anyone else does, Mr. Smith. I cast the charm and imagine how I want it to look."

The Doctor nodded distractedly and used his sonic screwdriver to test the boundaries of the energy field inside the trunk. "Could I observe as you cast the charm?"

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, but nodded and pulled a book bag from a shelf. Pointing her wand at the bag, she closed her eyes, said the incantation, and moved her wand in the intricate pattern. The Doctor observed the whole time, recording the energy fields with his sonic. He hummed at the results as the inside of the bag grew. "Interesting. Very interesting."

At that moment, his thoughts were cut off by the curtain behind him being pulled aside and a young woman stepping through, brushing against him as she did so. He turned to look at her as she apologized and he brushed off her unnecessary regret. Her emerald eyes caught his glance and stopped him mid-sentence.

"Sir?"

"Oh, yes, I am sorry, Miss. John Smith. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She quirked an eyebrow at him, a half-smile gracing her lips as he kissed her hand.

"Lily Evans." She turned from him, a bemused expression still covering her face, and addressed Ms. Sanders. "I came for my new trunk. It is _completely_ protected against the likes of arrogant toe rags, correct?"

Ms. Sanders' nose twitched slightly as she nodded. "Of course, dear. It's all done for you here." She summoned a beautifully carved trunk from the back of the shop area and handed it to the young woman. "If you need anything else, be sure to come back, but it should work out for you."

Lily thanked her and took the trunk out with her.

"Mr. Smith?"

The Doctor turned jerkily to look at the woman, his face blank except for the deep crease between his eyebrows that indicated a puzzle. "Ah, yes, that should be all. You were very helpful. Thank you." He left a few coins on the table and ran out of the shop at a full sprint, catching Miss. Evans' shoulder just a few shops down.

~oOo~

The Doctor woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright. He brushed the drop of sweat from his temple and scrubbed his face with his hands. Throwing the sheet aside, he swung his feet over the edge of his bed. _'Did that happen?'_

The Doctor knew he had lots of unrecovered memories—large blank spots that had remained a mystery to him for years. Especially around the time of his eighth life. Too many things had gone wrong with that one. And he couldn't risk the chance of dredging up too many repressed memories from the war in the process.

Ignoring the feeling of intense loss errupting in his chest and pushing aside the memories of what was probably just an odd dream-_'It's not real. Can't be. Just a fantasy. The unconscious fantasy of an old man. I couldn't even tell which life it was!'_-the Doctor stood and started his day, not seeing any point in going back to sleep now that he was awake. Besides, he still had so many places to show Rose. And now Jack, as well. There wasn't any time for more sleep!

* * *

_Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Next chapter up whenever I get it written. _

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_

_ooo_

_A/N: For the purposes of this story, I'm ignoring all of the eighth doctor's actual history apart from the times he actually appeared on film. I may mention things from the comics, novels, or audio adventures, but I'm not considering them cannon._

_He has severe, nearly constant amnesia, is half human due to complications when he regenerated in the hospital with the electrocution and anesthesia and such, and is constantly leaving notes for himself. He gets flashes of the future as a mutation of what usually allows him to see the difference between fixed and unfixed points in time, and knows about the wizarding world, obviously, but doesn't really care. _

_In the story, Lily is already 17, so despite there being an insanely large age gap, the Doctor's not actually a pedophile. _


	2. Chapter 2

_The memories and images are comig nto the Doctor in dream form. So, sometimes he's pretty aware and sometimes he's completely oblivious to whether it even is or isn't him. There's a bit of inconsistency in the different dreams because of this._

_Disclaimer: Not stealing-just borrowing._

_Warning: The Doctor had a very serious relationship with Lily. A relationship that included a child, even if he doesn't remember it. So yes, he's seeing images of more than just her face. Do you think I should up the rating?_

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 2

The Doctor woke to a mind filled with images. Images of a face—a body. Creamy skin with lots of enchanting freckles. A mole behind the right ear. Coarse, slightly curly red hair that hung down past not quite symmetrical shoulder blades. A dark red almost unheard of anywhere in the universe. A ragged scar over the left shoulder and down the arm. Perfectly sculpted cheekbones and a thin nose, the left nostril just slightly bigger than the right. Fantastic curves with the cutest belly button. Deft thin fingers on such little hands. Pretty eyebrows perfectly suited for her face, expertly applied eyeliner and mascara, and eyes of such a startling emerald that they drew him in and he felt like he was lifting off the ground.

The images began to fade almost as soon as he opened his eyes and all he could think was that it was bizzarre. He didn't know who the person was. Pain filled his chest as the images disappeared, but Rose—his wonderful Rose—swam to the forefront of his mind and the pain subsided somewhat.

Sighing, the Doctor dropped back down onto his bed and relaxed into its curves. His eyes closed and he faded back into the realm of sleep.

~oOo~

The Doctor was sprinting, moving as quickly as he could through people and displays of merchandise, his hearts beating faster than he could explain. He caught sight of a dark red braid and his eyes locked onto it and the person it connected to. He took several more long strides, and, panting for breath, touched the woman's shoulder.

The woman spun to face him, a small smile on her face. "Would you..." he asked, still attempting to regain his breath though he had no idea why—that run shouldn't even have made him blink, "Would you do me the pleasure of joining me for lunch, my lady?"

The young woman raised an eyebrow questioningly before nodding. "Alright."

His hearts jumped at the sound of her voice and his soul soared at her acceptance. "Do you know any good places?"

She chuckled, a beautiful sound.

~oOo~

The Doctor gasped into the waking world once more and tried to calm his pounding hearts. None of that was real—he was sure of it—but it was persisting on interrupting his sleep and he didn't understand why.

The Doctor rose from his bed, furious at himself for allowing a simple dream to bother him so much, and splashed water on his face to wake himself up.

oOo

It was weeks later before he allowed himself to fall into anything resembling sleep. And it still wasn't by choice. "That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona!" The Doctor looked into the eyes of his beloved Rose, grinning, and hit a few switches on the console before, without any kind of notice, he collapsed and slumped to the ground in a heap, unconscious.

~oOo~

The Doctor looked at his companion eagerly, holding onto every word she spoke.

"I think he's finally given up on me, you know. He spent all last semester playing vindictive pranks instead of asking me out. Not sure I prefer this to be honest, but at least he's not singing about my eyes in the great hall."

The Doctor smiled. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Come with me. In my ship. We could explore the universe together."

The young woman laughed, pushing a stray hair away from her face. "You can't be serious!"

"Why not? It's not as though you've got lots holding you back." He shot her a charming smile, leaning his elbow on the rail along the bridge and his head on his hand.

She laughed again. "School, Doctor. I have school holding me here. It may be irritating, but it's important."

"But it's a time machine—We can travel to every planet in the cosmos and I can still have you back in time for class."

"No can do, Doctor. I'm not leaving this planet till I graduate. How about this: I'm of age. You can meet me every weekend in Hogsmead if you like. Also, you can send me letters." She pushed herself off from the railing and looked into his eyes. Touching his shoulder, she said, "I have to go. I'll see you another time, Time Lord." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and walked away, her hips swinging in a mezmerizing fashion.

oOo

The Doctor was on a well-worn path, a small village nearly two miles behind him and enormous gates in front of him, a castle beyond that. A young woman was walking towards him along that path and the gates swung open as she approached.

He stayed where he was, waiting for her. When she got close enough, he took one of her small hands in his and said, "Please come with me. Just up to the moon and back." There was an edge of pleading in his voice.

She laughed and shook her head. "Not a chance. You, space boy, are going to help me with my arithmancy project."

He melted under her smile, but his hearts cracked a little at her refusal. He wanted so badly to share his world with her.

oOo

There was snow on the ground and it fell in slow-moving flakes from the grey sky, landing and melting in his shoulder-length curls. As the young woman approached, he held out a bundle of little white flowers—flowers that weren't from this world. "Lily," he offered, "these are for you."

She took them, shivering, and he offered her is coat and his body heat until they got to the Three Broomsticks. She refused.

oOo

The Doctor felt lips pressed up against his own. Soft, warm lips. He felt coarse, but smooth hair sliding through the fingers of his right hand and his hearts were pounding much faster than they normally did. His left hand was resting on the person's waist, a lovely smooth waist. He kissed a bit harder and found her tongue wetting his bottom lip.

He opened his mouth slightly, and the little tongue entered, twining with his own. He breathed deeply through his nose, taking in her scent, and kept going, feeling the small warm body pressed up against him, a small hand pulling at the hair on the back of his neck while another held onto the front of his clothes.

oOo

The Doctor walked through the deep snow, holding a small hand tightly in his as he did so. The snow compacted and crunched under his feet as he moved and he smiled at the lovely sound. He looked up at the castle ahead of them and the smile faded away.

"Don't worry," the young woman at his side said. "Christmas break is only a week and a half away. I'll see you then. You promised to take me home in that contraption of yours, you know."

He smiled again at the reminder that she would finally be coming inside the TARDIS and squeezed the hand before bringing it up to his mouth and kissing the cold fingers. "I'll be waiting."

oOo

The weekend came and went, the Doctor standing alone in the snow and wind and looking up at the castle. This was one of the first weekends that she hadn't come down to the village to meet him. Christmas break would be in three days. He sighed and watched his breath freeze in the air. _'I can wait. I hope.'_

oOo

The TARDIS materialized, more gently than the Doctor ever remembered it doing, and he rushed to the doors to fling them open. A wind pushed a flurry of snow into his face and he spluttered as he stepped out into the weather. Looking around, he saw a line of carriages pulled by skeletal black winged horse-like creatures coming towards the village he had landed in.

He stood and waited for the carriages to arrive and watched the majestic horse-like creatures as they moved. '_Thestrals'_ came to mind.

He watched, standing perfectly still, as students from eleven to eighteen poured from the carriage doors and pushed towards the train platform. It was several long minutes before a young woman with a red ponytail and blue earmuffs broke from the crowd and moved in another direction—towards him.

She had a travelling bag over one shoulder, nearly hidden by the folds of her thick winter cloak, and she smiled beautifully as she looked at him. He couldn't help but smile back. She broke into a run, but it only lasted a few steps as the snow got in her way and she tripped, standing up moments later with echoing laughter.

The Doctor began to walk towards her and they met half-way. He grasped her gloved hands in his and kissed the fingers as he often did. Then, without warning, he moved his hands up to the sides of her face and pressed their cold lips together.

The broke apart quickly, eager to get somewhere warm, and went back along the path the Doctor had made. He pushed open the blue door and ushered her inside, closing it behind them.

"So," he began as soon as she'd removed the earmuffs, "what do you think?"

"This isn't an extention charm," she said, looking around. "It's impressive."

He grinned widely and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly for a few moments before offering to take her cloak.

She handed it over and he threw it over a railing, making her laugh. The laughter sent tremors up his spine in the best way. "Can I show you what it can do? We could go somewhere tropical. Or somewhere dry. Anywhere at all. Anywhen!"

She looked at him thoughtfully. "Just take me home first, Doctor John Smith. Then we'll see about an adventure." She drug out the words of his 'name' playfully.

He grinned again and rushed to the control panel.

oOo

The Doctor watched the red ponytail swinging behind her as she ran up to the front door. He leaned up against the TARDIS, thinking as the slush fell from the sky. She knocked, not having a key with her, and waited.

The door opened and a face, similar to the first's but longer, slightly older, and less pretty poked out. His companion's face fell as the other person spoke, a terrified and worried expression crossing her face before both girls entered the home. The Doctor frowned and went back inside the TARDIS.

oOo

The Doctor sat in his favoite chair, tucked away in a corner of the console room. Candles burned in the background. A young woman was on his lap, wrapped in his arms as she sobbed.

"She's d-dead. I c-can't b-believe-ve sh-she's g-gone! D-dad-H-he's f-falling ap-part. Mum... sh-she's g-gone..."

oOo

The Doctor stood holding a small hand as they looked over the beautiful rainbow casm bellow them. The excitement of being on another world was overshadowed by the mourning that was just beginning to fade from the young woman's mind. The Doctor was just glad he could offer this much—a chance to excape for a little while before being forced back into the tedium of everyday life.

So they held hands and they looked over the casm.

oOo

The Doctor was in a cell, metal bars all around him. His hands were tied behind his back to someone else's. He reached and took the two small hands in his.

"How're we going to get out of this?"

"Easy. I do it all the time. Do you see the fun you've been missing?"

oOo

The gates closed and he waved as the red hair and green eyes moved away from him, down the path to the castle.

oOo

The TARDIS mateialized just outside of a sweets shop and he used his sonic to break in. Scanning for the passageway the TARDIS had picked up, he moved to the basement. He went through the passageway, half walking half running the three miles to the school and came out behind a statue into a stone corridor. He made his way through twisting hallways and hidden doorways to the upper floors, somehow knowing where he was going. He knocked on the frame of a painting with a large lady in a pink gown and waited.

A few minutes later, a head of red hair peeked out behind the painting.

The Doctor grinned.

~oOo~

The Doctor sat up bolt upright in a strange bed and pajamas that certainly weren't his and, ignoring these facts and acting on instinct, raised the sonic screwdriver in his hand and pressed the button. A christmas tree exploded.

He slowly lowered his hand and stared at the wreckage of the wall, too overwhelmed by so many things to form facial expressions yet. He had to violently shove aside his dreams to think at all, and obviously, this was an emergency-type situation. He couldn't afford to be distracted. "Romote control," he said blandly, still trying to sort out his mind. Shutting the last stray thought away where it couldn't bother him, he moved to stand up. "But who's controlling it?"

* * *

_Please leave a review and tell me what you think about the chapter! If you think I should up the rating, I'd be happy to-just send me a PM. Next chapter up as soon as it's written._

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm on a roll with this story! Have another chapter, dear readers! Enjoy it!_

_Disclaimer: I'm not rich, so Harry Potter's not mine. I'm not famous, so Doctor Who's not mine. And vice versa. The English language is also not mine. Damn, I don't own much of anything, do I?_

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 3

"The pilot fish... it means... something... s-something... something is coming."

The Doctor struggled to get out this last sentence of warning to his Rose as he scrambled to keep his walls in tact. As he looked at her, he couldn't tell if her hair was blonde or red. And that scared him to death. He didn't have any idea who this woman in his head was—but she was dangerous. As soon as that last word was out of his mouth, he couldn't stop his mental barriers from falling, forcing him down into unconsciousness once more.

~oOo~

A flash of red hair, a pair of beautiful emerald eyes, perfect lashes, a crooked eyebrow, a sweet smile, a mischievous grin, an amazing quill held in a small hand, freckles and a charm bracelet, an aged golden locket, a beige jumper, practical boots crunching hardened snow or splashing through puddles, a snatch of mumbled song and a hummed tune, heavy books crashing against a tabletop, swirling robes and cloaks. A wand shooting light or causing unexplained changes. All these images and more swirled around—chasing each other through his mind. The Doctor couldn't sort one from the other.

A name flashed through his thoughts. Lily. But not like the flower. Never like the flower. So much better than that.

He felt her hands brushing against his, smoothing his coat for him, running through his hair, gently brushing his cheeks, and grasping his arm as they walked. He felt his hands running through her long hair, brushing tears from her face when the stress got too much, dragging her through weekend adventures and guiding her through dances. He felt her lips brushing his, saw them speaking, singing, laughing.

Sounds and images and feelings swirled and meshed together in a terrible cacophony.

Until they settled. One by one they fell to the sides, leaving a certain scene in his mind, playing through. He was trapped inside a body that was no longer his—one that hadn't been his in centuries-forced to carry out the movements without thought.

"How'd it go?"

Lily collapsed with a huff in the chair next to him. "You really shouldn't be in here. It's the school's library. Not the anybody who feels like wandering in's library." Then she smiled a bit in response to his amused look. "Fairly well, I think. I hope. I would have failed astronomy without your help, but I think I actually passed. Arithmancy too. Charms was wonderful. Potions wasn't as bad as I though it's be. Transfiguration was awful, but I'm sure I scraped through. Ancient Runes, though!"

"What, you didn't have any trouble, did you?"

"Of course not, but I just feel so badly! I had an unfair advantage because of you! It's not fair to the others for me to have the runes translated automatically in my head by your machine."

The Doctor ducked his head in mock shame, hiding laughter. "You taking every advantage you have isn't wrong. And it's not your fault, either. Ignoring it, or purposefully putting wrong answers wouldn't have helped anybody. Even if you'd told them, they wouldn't have believed you." He reached across and took her hand. "You don't have to feel badly."

She smiled a bit and tried to accept what he was saying. It didn't work, so she opted for distraction instead. Standing, she made her way over to him and plopped down on his lap, putting her arms around his neck. "Just a few more days of term left."

"And then you'll go travelling with me?"

"Of course. Of course I will."

oOo

That scene dissolved and transitioned to another one.

oOo

Lily raced away from the carriages, running as fast as she could with a trunk and a cat-carrier in her arms. The Doctor raced to meet her, gladly taking her cat from her and quickly stopping to coo at it, ignoring her completely.

She tried not to smile at his antics and mocked hurt at him ignoring her. He gave her an affronted look and set the carrier down to sweep her up in his arms, lifting her off the ground.

She was shocked but she allowed it. Pulling out her wand, she levitated her items ahead of them as he carried her and she snuggled close to him. They entered the TARDIS and he plopped her back down on her feet, bending to let the beautiful tabby out of its cage before addressing her.

"So, there's the whole universe out there. Where do you want to go?"

"Home. I want to say goodbye to Tuney before we go."

"It's a time machine. We can be back before we leave."

"I know, but this is important to me. It's just the right thing to do. Dad too. I need to talk to Dad before I go anywhere."

The Doctor nodded, moving around the control panel as he set coordinates.

oOo

He stood behind Lily as she knocked on her father's door. "Hi Dad," she said before being pulled into a hug. "This is Doctor John Smith. We met last year. He's my... boyfriend." He couldn't see her smile, but he heard it in her voice and he echoed it.

The older man looked at him oddly, appraisingly. "Are you a wizard?"

Lily shot him a quick, unobtrusive nod. "Yes, sir."

"How did you become a doctor?"

"Years of schooling, sir."

"Specializing in?"

"Lots of things, sir."

His eyes narrowed. "And just how old are you, John?"

"Er... 1012," he calculated.

Lily shot him a look that said without any doubt that that answer was wrong and her father wore a similar one.

"Er, Sorry sir-23," he lied. "I'm a proper genius. Breezed through magical and nonmagical schooling in no time. I'm afraid my sense of humor takes some getting used to though."

The older man relaxed a bit, but still looked suspicious.

"We're going travelling for a bit, Dad, but we'll be home in a few weeks."

The Doctor smiled reassuringly, but it seemed to have the opposite of the intended effect.

"Travelling where?"

"Everywhere."

oOo

Images of planets and aliens and fantastic adventures flew through him mind—images of all of time and space, intermingled with Lily. Her hands, her face, her laughter, mixed up in all the universe.

~oOo~

Through all of these dancing and twirling and mixing scenes, the smell of tea assaulted his nose, coming to the point where it drowned out anything else. With a gasp, he awoke.

Tea fumes surrounded him, the thermos having spilled into the machinery under the grated floor. Breathing in the moist air, he used the focus the smell brought to organize his mind and properly store those images away. He latched onto that smell and centered his mind around it, giving himself a point to stabilize his brain around and bring him concentration that would certainly be necessary considering how he was sprawled across his control room floor in strange pajamas and a dressing gown with food in the pockets.

Standing up, he continued to breath in the fumes, centering and preparing himself. Opening the double doors of his ship, he smiled. "Did you miss me?"

* * *

_See you next chapter! Why don't you take a moment to drop me a review?_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	4. Chapter 4

_I know these chapters are short, but they're coming pretty quickly. Does that make up for it? I hope so. _

_Disclaimer: I still don't own any of this. And it makes me quite sad. Especially when I see bits of lovely foreshadowing like the Mr. Saxon reference in 'the Runaway Bride'. Wish I could do that. But I'm not great at planning out plot beforehand._

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 4

He did three full brain scans before he even thought about allowing himself to go back to sleep, even with the recent regeneration taking up energy. There was a spot in the long-term memory storage that was doing something odd. The Doctor didn't know what it meant, and frankly, he didn't care, but he had the med bay block it off for him so it couldn't affect the rest of his mind, and had his first good night's sleep in quite a while—the first time in months that red hair and green eyes hadn't invaded his thoughts and dreams.

oOo

Thankful that the images weren't bothering him anymore, the Doctor put them aside and forgot about them for the most part. Nearly a year passed, in peace from the mysterious young woman, and she was the furthest thing from his mind as he stumbled into his bedroom this night.

Rose. His Rose was gone forever. He could never see her again and he hadn't even gotten the chance to tell her he loved her. He didn't really—not in the way she wanted him to. Humans and Time Lords looked enough alike, but they were still different—entirely different species. And he was an old man. He couldn't ever love her like that. He did love her though. And she deserved to hear that.

Another tear left its track down his cheek as he collapsed onto a chair. Tears fell and his breathing became labored. His mind swirled as he lost control—lost control because it wasn't worth having anyways. What good was mental control if he couldn't even save the people he loved. He'd failed her. His Rose. Just like he'd failed everyone else that mattered.

And amidst all this inner turmoil, consciousness slipped from him and his mind fell into darkness.

~oOo~

Noise. Noise filled his senses—none of it even remotely comprehensible. Images leaked out of the cracks as well. The part of his mind that should have been sealed off was breaking down. Smells and sensations forced their way through the gaps and into his mind, blocking off or overwhelming all of what might have been there before.

The images swirled in an incomprehensible mass, making it impossible to decipher any of it. It felt like years before any one scene came to the forefront.

oOo

The Doctor stood back in the corner of a room, avoiding getting involved in the conflict before him.

"How could you just leave, Lily!? How could you!?" a woman screamed. "How could you get us mixed up in all your freakish nonesense and then leave us alone!?"

The younger redhead hung her head in shame. "I didn't mean to Tuney. You know I'd never purposely leave you to get hurt. I had no idea they'd come after you."

"No idea!? What does it matter, no idea!? I'm leaving, Lily! And I'm done with you! It's only because of you that both our parents are dead! It's all your fault!" She stormed off then, leaving Lily alone with the Doctor, tears streaming silently down her face.

"She's right," Lily whispered.

"No!" said the Doctor. "No, she's not! It's not your fault at all! It's the fault of the Death Eaters. Come on, love. Let's get out of here. We can go to the grave tomorrow if you want."

She fell into his arms, shaking with repressed sobs, and he comforted her as best as he could.

oOo

Images swirled once more, blending together, and the Doctor got lost in the mess, falling and flying and cowering inside his mind for what might have been all of time.

~oOo~

The Doctor woke in a panic and sprinted to the med bay, hooking himself up for more scans. Without wasting any time, he rebuilt his walls. For days afterward, he meditated, and piece by piece, put his thoughts back together, forcing everything back into its place. Only when he emerged from this state did he find the the TARDIS had been adrift for over a year. He'd been asleep for over a year!

Panicking again, he threw himself to the nearest inhabited world, making sure he landed right in the middle of trouble. He needed the distraction. And when he'd finished on that world, he shot straight towards another as fast as his TARDIS could carry him. And he travelled—alone, refusing to take companions—for years and years—never letting himself think of those images in his mind that he hid even from himself.

oOo

As the Doctor calmly pressed the botton, his hearts broke. He was destroying an entire race of people all over again. Guilt and sadness and longing and anger filled his head.

As bombs exploded around him, detonated by his hand, he faught a battle within himself. He faught a battle against his emotions that he could never win. He fought to stay on top—to stay in control. He had to kill the arachos. He had to for the sake of so many other people. But that didn't make it better.

Fire raged up angrily and water from the pipes rained down over them and the Doctor looked at Donna, the woman he had just met. He just looked at her.

And through the barriers created and hardened by a strong mind—a mind not weakened by regeneration or anything else—a single memory leaked. Because there were only a few times that someone had looked at the Doctor just like that.

~oOo~

It was pouring rain on the couple as they stood on the cliff. Below them, a city was burning. The Doctor had frozen up. He had done this. He had done it out of necessity and there had been no other way, but he had done it. He was burning that city. Children were dying because of him.

The woman at his side took his arms in her hands and turned him to face her. He could see in her emerald eyes that he was scaring her and that broke him. But she reached up and brushed the dripping brown curls from his face.

"Doctor," she said softly—lovingly, "It's okay. You can stop now. We can stop now. Let's go."

She took his hand in his and squeezed it tightly, leading him back to the TARDIS. She let him be broken for a while and she was the one comforting him instead of the other way around. And that's when he saw how much she loved him. He saw a kind of love in her eyes that was unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

And her words echoed in his mind. She'd been scared, but she had loved him enough to tell him when to stop. "Doctor, you can stop now."

~oOo~

The words were echoed outside his mind as well and he heard them come from Donna's mouth in a yell. He surveyed the fire and water around him, heard the screams.

And with Donna's and Lily's voices resounding in his head, he took back control. "Come on!" he yelled. "Time I got you out!" Because whoever Lily was, Donna wasn't like her. And Donna couldn't do what she had done. Which meant it was down to him to make sure two more lives weren't lost this time.

oOo

He was about to leave when Donna's shouts brought him back to his ship's door. And then she said something. "Find someone."

"I don't need anyone."

"Yes you do." And those word hit him. An image of that beautiful young woman came to him mind. "Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you." And that image persisted. That's what she'd done for him. Whether it was a dream or not didn't matter now. Because that's what Donna was talking about. He needed to find someone like her. Because she had stopped him. And then she'd taken care of him later. That was what he needed. And all he could say was:

"Yeah."

* * *

_More chapters soon! Please leave a review to tell me how I'm doing! Every comment helps!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	5. Chapter 5

_Yay! Another chapter! And it's longer than the last ones too. And finally, the Doctor gets his act together. Good for him._

_Disclaimer: Really? Alright then: I'm just playing around and am earning no money. Don't sue me._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

CHAPTER 5

Over the next century or so, the Doctor tried his best to follow Donna's advice. He pushed old memories aside and went in search for people he could share his journeys and adventures with. He was done with Earth though. That beautiful little planet had caused him so much pain that he couldn't bear to spend too much time there.

But then he found himself alone again, and when he saw all those plasma cores in a hospital on Earth, he just couldn't resist. He had to explore.

And then he nearly died—that was a scare. With lower blood pressure than he'd ever had in his many lives, the Doctor dragged himself back to the TARDIS and the medbay, where he hooked himself up for a blood transfusion and a full body scan. When he woke up several hours later and looked at the results, he was scared out of his mind. He never had had much luck with human hospitals, but this-

The repressed images/memories that he'd held locked up in the edge of his brain for so long were having a physical manifestation. And if he didn't release the blocks, he'd get sick. It was possible he'd die from the effects.

So he released them. The pain in his head was undescribable. It hurt in a way he didn't think anything ever had and soon, he was unconscious again.

~oOo~

"Stay with me," the Doctor said, looking into those beautiful green eyes.

She laughed. "What?"

"Stay with me." There was a touch of longing in his voice now. "Please. Stay with me forever. I—What you did for me—no one else does that. And I—I don't want to be without that. Or you."

He looked down at his feet, bracing himself for her rejection.

She reached out and took his chin in her hand, forcing him to look up at her. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay." And she pressed her lips to his.

When they broke apart, they were both struggling for breath. "You mean that? You'll stay?" he stuttered nervously.

"Of course I will. I could stay with you forever."

"I love you."

She looked up at him with an edge of shock in her eyes, which quickly shifted to warmth and care. "I love you too." And they kissed again.

oOo

Various memories flooded into his head—memories and dreams of laughter and excitement and running and crying and sightseeing and holding hands and being together. The Doctor watched through his past eyes as he grew closer and closer to his Lily.

oOo

"I want children," Lily stated.

"Where did this come from?"

They were layed out in the soft blue clover-like groundcover of a planet, enjoying a relaxing meal together in the pale sunlight.

"Not sure. It just sort of came to mind." She rolled over on her elbow and propped herself up to look directly at him. "I was just thinking and I thought of how much I'd always wanted to have children. And as I was thinking, I realized something else. I want them to be our children."

He rolled to look at her as well.

"Lily, I... I have children."

She looked at him inquiringly.

"I was married once and I had two children. One of them settled down and had a normal family. The other had an illigitimate daughter who I took in when I fled Gallifrey. Then I left her on a planet. She got married, presumedly. She might have children of her own now."

She looked at him for a moment, taking in these new ideas. "That's amazing."

"Hm?"

"That's amazing. I still want to have children though. Is that... Is that possible?"

"I don't know. We could run some scans," he offered hesitantly.

Lily nodded.

oOo

"It should be possible," he babbled excitedly, holding a data tablet. "The results of the scans say it's entirely viable! We just have to try. Give it a shot and see where it goes!" He ducked his head bashfully, realizing at once what he'd said.

Lily noticed his blush and laughed, her face fludhing right along with his.

"Umm, how do you feel about marriage?"

He stared at her.

"I mean, I was raised believing that marriage is important for children to have a stable home, but I don't know how that works for you and maybe we could work out something else or-"

"Stop." She looked at him hopefully. "Yes. If you want to get married, then yes!" She pounced on him then, hugging him tightly around the neck. "I'd never even considered it before—not since my first body. But for you? Anything. I don't want to force you into anything though. We'll have to talk-"

She shut him up quickly with a kiss.

oOo

More memories came, some jumbled together in a hopeless mess and others fairly clear.

oOo

The Doctor went through his extensive wardrobe and carefully picked out an outfit much like what he normally wore, but with a slightly classier air. It was with great deliberation that he pinned his tie and straightened his velvet tails and made sure his shoes were correctly shined.

When he was finally satisfied, he took several deep breaths and made his way to the control room, from where he poileted his ship to where he'd left Lily the night before.

He double-checked his pockets, then stepped out the doors, finding himself about a kilometer away from the vine-covered arch in the grove of trees.

He walked to it, a nervous smile on his face and doubts runing through his mind at breakneck speeds. What if she was doing this for some reason other then that she wanted to? What if she didn't like him as much as she thought? What if she changed her mind? After all, he could never be worthy of her.

When he finally stood under the leafy arch, he closed his eyes in a silent prayer to the universe, asking beyond anything else that she be happy and safe.

A few minutes later, Lily could be seen approaching. She was wearing fitted white robes with beautiful lace sleeves, and had flowers woven into her hair. They were the same white flowers that he'd given her several times before and he smiled widely. Holding her arm was an alien that the Doctor had known for nearly half of his lives so far. The alien, who had no gender he knew of, communed directly with the universe. When they got close enough, the Doctor saw Lily's smile and that made his even wider.

She stepped up under the arch with him, reaching out to take his hand. He took it anxiously as he pulled a ribbon out of his pocket with his other one. He then handed the ribbon to his friend, Strp, and took her other hand in his.

He took a deep breath of the dense air and saw his love do the same.

"Lily Margrette Evans, I love you with all of my being. When I go too far, you stop me. When I fall apart, you pick up the pieces. When I forget, you are my reminder. You center me, keep me a part of reality, and give me something to live for. You are as much a part of me as anyone has ever been and I couldn't ever bear to lose you. If I ever did, I don't think I could ever be whole again. So Lily, my love, I ask to be bound to you."

Her features softened and she looked at him in a way no one had in a long time. Biting her lip, she began.

"Doctor John Smith, I know that's not your real name, but I don't care, because it's who you are. You make things better. You made me better. You pretend to be perfectly ordinary, but you stand out in the most marvdelous ways. I love you more than anyone and I never want to be apart from you. You were there when my mother died, you were there when the war took my father and classmates from me, and you were there through everything else. You make me happy, and I don't want to lose that. Ever. So, Doctor, I ask to be bound to you."

"We consent and gladly give," Strp chimed. Strp wrapped the ribbon around one of their entwined sets of hands then said, "You may now complete the bonding," his musical voice echoing strangely through their minds.

Stepping forward, the Doctor pulled her other hand up to his face and set it on the side of his head before putting his on the side of hers. He leaned in and touched their foreheads together, allowing her to see his thoughts and mind. She let down her weak occlumency barriers and allowed him access to hers and their minds bonded together as they learned everything about eachother.

As soon as Lily saw and heard the Doctor's name, he turned under her hand and pressed his lips to hers, breaking off the majority of the mental connection.

"You are now bonded," Strp exclaimed happily. "And the universe rejoices with you.

oOo

Memories swirled. Memories of the wedding night and the days and nights afterward, memories and dreams of their continued adventures, and a memory that made the Doctor doubt the truth of these images once more, because he couldn't ever forget something like this.

oOo

"Doctor, it worked."

"Hm?"

"It worked. I asked the TARDIS to do some scans and she confirmed it."

The Doctor banged his head on the bottom of the console while sitting up to look at her and rubbed the sore spot absentmindedly. "Just for confirmation, what are we talking about, love?"

"I'm pregnant."

The Doctor stood up so fast that he nearly fell over. "You are?"

Lily nodded enthusiastically and he kissed her.

oOo

The couple were sitting in the medbay, staring at a holographic model of their baby and a set of scan results. Lily was grinning widely and the doctor was staring agasp as the readout.

"He's... he's got two hearts, Lily. Two hearts, and look at those 26 little ribs beginning to form. And the pulmonary tubes! And look at this!" He handed her the tablet he'd been looking at and pointed out the picture. "It's triple-helix, love!"

Lily looked at him, completely shocked. "So—so he's completely time lord?"

"Yes, nearly. But look at this bit here. He's going ot have your eyes."

She grinned. "What about magic?"

"I'm—not sure. It's hard to tell, I mean, you said that magical abilities grow with age. Maybe it's just not detectable yet."

"It doesn't matter either way." She cuddled into him and they looked fondly at their growing child.

oOo

There was another surge of memories, and then one last clear revelation.

oOo

The Doctor had his arm wapped around his wife's growing waist and she was leaning up against his shoulder. "How much longer?" she whined as they walked.

"I'm not sure, love. If I had to make a guess, I'd say another few months. Your body is designed to cary a child for nine, but gallifreyan children aren't normally ready for the world for at least thirteen, by your time. We could go to gallifrey and get you checked out, if you like."

"I think that's a good idea. It's already been thirty three weeks. I love this boy to pieces, but I want him out of me."

"Hold on, Lily. You can make it through this. He's not ready yet."

He let go of her waist and turned to walk backwards in front of her. "You're not sensing that anything's wrong, are you? Because as much as going to Gallifrey makes me uncomfortable, we could go right away if you think there's a problem." His dreams of Gallifrey burning and the sense that it was his fault had him mentally reeling as he anxiously awaited her answer.

"No, love. I don't think anything's wrong. I'd just feel better if I knew for sure that everything was right. We can go later."

The Doctor tripped over backwards on a root and fell to the ground. Lily laughed at him, but suddenly the laughter was gone, replaced only by silence.

Panicking slightly, the Doctor scrambled up to look at his wife. She was gone.

"LILY!" he screamed.

There was no response."

oOo

There were images of him searching and frantically running scans and communicating with other time lords—even the ones he somehow knew he was going to kill sometime in the future. These memories were heavily tinged with fear and anxiety and pain and hopelessness. And then the time war began and the memories stopped coming as they were replaced by ones he already had.

~oOo~

The Doctor woke and redid the scans, finding that most of the damage was repaired. But at the same time, his heart was broken. He'd lost Lily. And he'd lost a child, too. And it had finally hit him. All those images—they were all completely, one hundred percent real. They had to be.

Putting it aside to mull over in the back of his mind, he got up to find some food, thinking of Martha. She'd saved his life. In more than one way. She saved him from the Jadoon then restarted his hearts then put him in a position where he had to do full scans on himself and he found that the block was killing him. He never would have known otherwise. If nothing else, he owed her a thank-you trip.

oOo

Travelling with Martha was a lovely distraction, allowing the back of his mind to focus on sorting out all the new memories and forming a plan of what to do about them while the rest of his mind avoided the matter entirely. Getting attatched to her was purely accidental. And then she left.

But that wasn't the end, because Donna came back. Donna, who had told him to find someone and who had told him when to stop. And when she had to go and his funny little family fell apart-that was when he realized that the issue of his family couldn't wait. He could travel in time and that meant that as much of a long-shot as it was, there was still a minicule, tiny little chance that she was out there somewhere and he could find her. And there was absolutely nothing that was going to stop him from trying. Because she was his family. And he wanted her back.

* * *

_I really hope you all liked that. Please leave a review to tell me what you think! Next chapter up as soon as it's written._

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	6. Chapter 6

_Wait, wait, wait! Is this 2 chapters in 1 day? I think it is! Wow! Good for me!_

_A quick author's note before we begin this chapter: Keep in mind that for the purposes of this story, I'm assuming that Time Lords regenerate by taking their own DNA and scrambling it. They have enough genes that when they're in one body, they have several different, alternate sets that are dormant. Therefore, when they have children, their kids can inherit any of their traits fro many of their regenerations, whether they've used those traits themselves or not. If you have questions, please ask!_

_Disclaimer: I may be using quotes from the show, but I don't own them. This does not make me any kind of profit, sadly enough._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

CHAPTER 6

Crashing into a little town called Leadworth after his regeneration was the most wonderful and terrible thing to happen to the Doctor. He climbed up his grappling hook rope thingy out of his TARDIS, whose internal gravity had stopped working, and the first face his new face saw was a child. A child with red hair. A child who looked more like Lily to his old, sad, new eyes than she probably actually did.

And she looked so very frightened, but hopeful at the same time. And as his mind froze up, thinking about red hair and children, all he could manage to say was, "Could I have an apple?" And when he said, "all I can think about is apples—I love apples," what he meant was, 'I can't think of anything at all, but I said apples and now I'm sticking to it so I don't look like an idiot.' Also, he was hungry. Maybe with a bit of nourishment, he could get his brain to start working again.

And that little girl looked at him with a kind of exhasperated patience and curiosity that he'd only really seen from Lily. He climbed out of his ship and determined right then and there that he would never let this little girl down. Whatever she was scared of, he would find out and fix.

oOo

The crack in little Amelia's wall was scary, but it could wait five minutes because if it didn't, everything would explode. He had to stabalize the engines. He wished he could take her with him to protect her from the mysterious prisoner zero, but it just wasn't safe. He couldn't put her in danger like that. So he left, with a promise to return in just five minutes.

He didn't stabalize the engines as well as he'd thought though, and five minutes became twelve years.

It really was just a couple of minutes to him, but as he raced into the house, he knew something was wrong. When he met the policewoman with orange hair, it got worse. Whatever had happened to little Amelia Pond, he had failed her—just like he had failed so many others. Just like he'd failed his son before he'd even been born. And as he sat handcuffed to a radiator under the window, all he could think about was how horrifically he'd failed. How terribly he'd failed everyone. How he'd even failed himself.

And then he found out that the woman was Amelia Pond. And his hearts fell to pieces.

When he left her again at the end of their little adventure to break in his newly repaired ship, he still hadn't fully processed how terribly he'd failed her. Four psychiatrists worth. And he didn't understand how much a part of her life he'd accidently made himself.

And when he reappeared, fully re-charged after his regeneration, it was night again. And once more, he was terribly late.

oOo

The Doctor parked the TARDIS in the garden, right where it had been when he left, and ran around the console, making sure it was properly parked and feeling alright. When he was sure that his ship was okay, he went towards the doors. He had no idea what he was going to tell Amelia. He'd met her just about two hours ago, not including those two days he'd spent sleeping while the TARDIS was parked on the moon, and she'd been a little girl. Now she was all grown up. Would he take her with him? He had no idea about much of anything, with his brain still fizzy from a new body, but he at least owed it to her to make sure she was alright.

He pulled open the door and went outside to check the keyhole and make sure his key still worked. He heard footsteps and turned around to see Amelia in a nightdress. "Sorry for running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS," he explained. "Bit exciting."

She looked at him with anger tinting her eyes and he looked back, confused, still babbling about the TARDIS. Apparently he was a nervous babbler now, although admittedly, he'd been that to some degree for most of his lives.

When he said "So what do you think? Other planets—want to check some out?" he had no idea what had prompted it. He seemed to have very little control of what came out of his mouth now.

She looked at him blankly. "What does that even mean?" and then seemed to rethink what she was saying. "No, hold on, more important things." Then she reached up and grabbed onto his bow-tie, pulling him towards the house. Needless to say, he was shocked. "All that stuff—the hospital, the spaceships, prisoner zero..." she ranted, "All that stuff happened two years ago!"

He tried to stutter out an 'oops,' but being dragged along by his neckware made that difficult.

"Now this, Raggedy Man," she said, shoving him up the stairs, "What am I supposed to make of this?" She shoved him into a bedroom where the Doctor immediately spotted a child lying on the bed. A child with a mop of floppy, dark brown hair. The Doctor stared, not at all confident in his abilities to decipher what Ameli—Amy wanted him to do or say.

"He," Amy whispered, "showed up nearly a year ago. "Rory found him near the hospital, going through a dumpster. He. Looks. Just. Like. You."

The Doctor turned to look at Amy with a seriously shocked expression. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he looks exactly like you. Exactly. His eyes are a brighter green, but he's like a minuature Doctor."

He stared at her in shock for a few moments before rushing to the bed and pushing the hair up out of the face to look at him.

"We couldn't think what to do, Doctor. We had no idea, so we just kept quiet about him being here and took care of him as best as we could, but you-" she whispered on as he stared at the child on the bed. The child on the bed who had a double heartbeat and who Amel—Amy claimed looked just like him. With bright green eyes, though he hadn't seen them.

The Doctor reached out with his mind to the child before him and gasped in shock as he made contact. This boy was a time lord. And even more, his time lord. This boy had his DNA. A tear rolled down his face and, sending out a calming signal to keep the boy asleep, he raised up one of the eyelids. They were a perfect bright green, exactly like Lily's.

He chocked on a sob and stood up quickly, backing away from the child. When he could finally look up, he walked over to Amelia Pond and hugged her tightly, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Thank you," he choked out. "Thank you, Amelia Pond. Thank you." And then he collapsed back down onto the floor and grasped the small hand in his own, sending out telepathic signals of peace, comfort, warmth, and love while he began to sing an ancient gallifreyan lullaby.

Amy didn't know what to think and left the room to call Rory. Bad luck or wedding tradition or anything else be damned.

* * *

_So, what did you guys think? Any comments would be appreciated, dear readers. Thank you to anyone who had already reviewed! I really love each and every one of them._

_-MP_


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry it took so long, dear readers. And I also apologize for the feels. They're pretty heavy here._

_Disclaimer: Standard not mine._

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 7

The Doctor sat on the floor by the bed in silence. His son. His son. He couldn't get it out of his head. His son had been here for nearly a year and he hadn't been here for him. His son was already so old. Nearly eight by the look of him. This was solid proof. Solid proof that he had lost a whole chunk of his lfe. He'd already decided that they couldn't be just dreams, but this—this was as solid and as proofy as it got. His son was right here. Right here in front of him. His son.

What had happened to him? And what had happened to Lily?

The silent tears kept falling as he looked at this beautiful, wonderful child with a mixed look of love and happiness and sorrow and regret.

He wasn't good enough. That was why this beautiful child was alone in the world. It was his fault. All his fault. When Amy returned and stood in the doorway, he hardly noticed, and when she came over to put a hand on his shoulder, he flinched away in shock.

"Amel—Amy!" he choked out. "Tell me everything! Everything about him."

She kneeled on the floor next to him and began to speak. "He's a sweet boy. We had no idea what his name was. He said he remembered being called Harry, or maybe Thete. He's scared of everything, even us, after all this time."

That elicited a chocked out sob and Amy touched the Doctor's shoulder lightly.

"What happened? How did he get here?"

"Lily, she-we were walking and then I tripped and they disappeared. Just a few more months, I said, and then she was gone."

"He's getting better. He's not human, so we've been letting him choose foods that he likes, mostly, but he's gotten taller and gained some weight."

The Doctor gave a watery smile. "That's probably for the best. How long has he been asleep?"

"Since about nine."

The Doctor scrunched up his eyebrows. "And he's still sleeping? It's been nearly six hours since then if my internal clock is working, which it should be. He should have woken by now."

"He's always had an odd sleep schedule, but we tried to get him to sleep through the night. We never really thought about it." She sounded horribly guilty but when the Doctor looked at her, his eyes held no hint of blame.

"No, it's fine. I owe you so much."

And with that, he reached out and touched his son's shoulder, rising up to sit on his heels as he did so. "Koschay-Thete," he said quietly. "Thete, wake up. Thete?"

The boy rolled over and opened one eye, jumping back when he saw an unknown person next to him.

"Sh.. it's alright, Harry," Amy said quickly. "This is the Doctor. I've told you stories about him."

The big, bright green eyes were wide with fear turned curiosity. "The Doctor?"

The Doctor still looked at him, marveling in the beauty of his child's voice as tears continued to slowly fall. "Koschay-Thete, I—I'm the Doctor. There's lots of questions and just a few answers and we out to get through them. So let's get you up, eh?"

He forced a smile and backed away from the bed to let Khosch get up.

The child kept his distance and looked at the Doctor with mild suspicion and confusion. The Doctor reached out with his mind towards his son not sure why the boy was so restricted to his own skull when he should have been sending out feelers. As he touched the edge of the boy's mind, the child physically flinched away and tightened his mind up even more. That wasn't healthy.

Quickly dropping down to his knees in front of the child, the Doctor took the small arms in his large hands and looked into Thete's face. "Why are you doing that? Why are you so closed off, Thete? Why? What has happened to you?"

The young boy looked petrified with fright.

That look was enough for him to realize what he was doing and he let go of the child, who subconsciously moved closer to Amy. A wave of panic and dread hit him. He'd caused that look of fear on that face. His own son was terrified of him. He had no idea what he was going to do. It took every bit of strength he had to not choke out any more sobs.

"Thete—oh Thete," the Doctor whispered. "I need-" No, there was too much to explain. He had no idea where to start.

Amy seemed to sense that he was having trouble collecting his thoughts and directed the child into the kitchen, where he hopped up onto a chair and Amy sat next to him. The Doctor followed slowly, lost in panicky thoughts, and plunked down in a chair opposite them. "I'm so sorry," he said, all hint of light gone from his eyes, which showed every second and more of his long life. It was still a relatively short life, in all reality, but he'd actually lived. Lived enough for hundreds of his people. His people...

He shook the images of all the dead out of his mind and wracked his fingers through his hair, growling under his breath. How!? How was he going to tell Thete? How could he possibly make him understand when he didn't understand himself? He didn't know what his son had been put through or what had happened to him or to Lily. He just didn't know where to start.

And he was so closed off mentally and sleeping irregularly _and frightened of him_! The Doctor simply couldn't believe that all this was happening. He needed to do a thought transfer, his brain finally got around to determining. But it might not be possible. Not with his mind so closed off like it was. No! No, he couldn't risk it. He couldn't afford to risk anything.

He growled in frustration again, pulling at his own hair, then realized that he was not alone and nearly kicked himself for forgetting about the one person he'd been actively thinking about. Thete. His son. And now he'd probably made things even worse. He was acting completely insane.

Pulling himself out of his mind, the Doctor looked up at his partially cowering son and winced, tears glazing his vision as his hands slid out of his hair and down to the table.

"Khosch—sorry, bad place to start." He shook his head in frustration before looking back up at those fearful green eyes. "Thete. I'm going to tell you a story and I need you to listen to me and believe what I'm telling you. It's all true." He took a deep, bone-shaking breath and started again.

"I'm a Time Lord. I was born on a planet called Gallifrey. When I was eight, I looked into the time vortex and I ran away. When I was nearly one hundred, I scraped a pass in my classes, finally graduating from the Academy on my third try. Then the planet had a social uprising and there was a demand for leadership, and there was a lot of problems and I couldn't handle it. I had a family, but I just couldn't stay. I couldn't. I wanted to explore the universe and see what I could see and do things no one had dared to do before, but mostly, I wanted to run away. So, I stole an old time capsule and did just that, taking my granddaughter with me, though she didn't stay with me long.

"I kept running, and running, and running, exploring and having adventures along the way and frequently taking various aliens along for the ride for short times. All of time and space was my back yard and I took advantage of every second. Eventually, the planet cooled down. I paid for most of my crimes in exile then somehow ended up being made Lord President of Gallifrey a few times. But I ran away again and kept on running.

"Until I met Lily Evans.

"Lily Evans was a human who lived on this planet, here on Earth. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen and she was absolutely brilliant. Now I don't normally go for other species, but I'd had some recent medical complications and at the time, I was half-human myself then. We fell in love, Thete, and eventually, we got married. I loved her with all of my heart—every ounce of my being.

"And then she got pregnant. We weren't sure it was even possible, but somehow it happened and we were overjoyed. We found out that it was a boy and that he'd be full-Time Lord which seemed like dome kind of a miracle. We planned on naming our child Khoschay-Thete.

"But then something happened. We were on a planet, walking, laughing. I tripped."

The doctor couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "I tripped and when I got up, she was gone. You were that little boy growing inside of her, Thete. That was you. For hundreds of years—maybe thousands—I don't know—I lost track—I've been searching for you. I've been looking, Thete. Looking and looking and looking. I-" his voice cracked again. "I'd given up hope. I forgot, but then I remembered and I started looking again. And then I lost hope again.

"I don't know what happened, Thete, but after centuries, I've found you. With brilliant, magnificent Amy Pond." He shot Amy a look filled with more gratitude than she could ever comprehend.

"I'm s-so s-sorr-ry, Th-Thete. S-so s-sorry. W-what-tever ha-happened t-to y-you—it-it's my fault! And I-I'm s-so s-sorry!"

He looked at his son pleadingly, seeing shock and careful calculation in those green eyes. After only a second, he turned away, unable to face his failure and the rejection that was sure to come.

But it didn't.

The Doctor's head shot up and he locked onto Thete's gaze. Pain was shining through those eyes now, but also so much more. And beyond that, a little curious feeler was reaching out to touch his mind.

The Doctor nearly choked with happiness and surprise and longing and he couldn't open up his mind to allow his son access nearly fast enough. He broke into a tearful smile as he welcomed that little tendril of consciousness and guided it into the safest, warmest place that he could find in his memories. Lily. And in a matter of seconds, they had both reached out, father and son, to grasp hands. And as they bonded mentally, they held on tightly, reveling in that physical contact. And they both squeezed like they would never let go.

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_Let me know what you thought!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	8. Chapter 8

_My dear readers, I can only apologize heartily and hope you will forgive me. I wrote this some time ago and then completely forgot to post it. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon._

_In other notes, if you are the kind of person that likes a happy ending, the end of last chapter is as close as you're likely to get. I have never once successfully ended a story on a cheerful note and I have no idea where this story will be going. I won't deliberately try for a sad ending, but that doesn't count for a whole lot. So, if you'd like to stop reading to maintain some semblance of happiness, I won't blame you or mind in the slightest. If you do choose to continue on towards the mystery ending yet to come,_

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 8

This tender moment was interrupted by the banging open of the front door. "Amy!" a man yelled.

And as quickly as the two time lords had latched onto one another, they broke apart once more. Young Thete pulled back his feelers, retracted his hand, and curled in on himself, bringing his knees up to his chest as he locked his mind up tightly once more. The child even refused to make eye contact, looking down at the floor.

The Doctor gasped at that sudden removal of all contact and his wet eyes flew open as he desperately reached out with his mind to try to coax Thete back to him. What he saw though—a ruffled and tired-looking man who he recalled from a few days before as the one who had been taking pictures of the wrong thing—Rory-and a child curled in on themselves as if trying to look small to avoid danger—had him mentally screaming as he faught the urge to yell at Rory and hug his child.

He couldn't do those things though—he knew he couldn't. Thete was already so withdrawn and he would have to come out of it at his own pace. If he pushed, he could do terrible and irreparable damage. And it wasn't Rory's fault, no matter how much the Doctor wished he could blame the man.

"Amy, what's-" Rory said as he moved towards the woman, "Oh. Uh, Amy?"

Amy nodded back out of the kitchen and Rory moved to follow her. Thete looked desperately towards the pair and Amy, catching his glance, froze, undecided. "Rory, let's, uh, talk. Harry, we'll be back in a minute. You'll be fine." She tried to smile encouragingly before leaving the room.

The Doctor put his face in his hands, focusing hard on restraining his muscles and not reaching out to grab the frightened child. All he could think was '_What happened to him?'_

"Thete," he started nervously. "Thete, I'm your father. I'm... I'm so, so sorry that I wasn't here for you. I'm so sorry that I wasn't here. But I am now, son. I'm here now and I won't let anything bad ever happen to you again." Thete looked up at him briefly before looking down again. "Thete, why did they call you 'Harry'? How could that have happened. Me and Lily had never planned on a human name for you. Never even considered it. Thete... what happened to you?"

Silence answered him and he sighed, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration again.

"Father?"

The Doctor looked up suddenly at the sound and his eyes widened. "Yes! Yes, Thete, I'm your father!"

"Why?"

"Why what, Thete? I... I couldn't be here for you before because I didn't know where you were."

The boy shook his head slightly. "No, why..." he squeezed his eyes shut and clutched at his hair. "Hurts..."

"What?" The Doctor stood up, itching to get to his son, but stopped himself. "What hurts, Thete? I'll make it better. I swear I'll do everything I can to make it better."

The boy shrunk back in his seat, still pulling at his hair, and buried his face in his raised knees. "Head," he said softly.

The Doctor's hearts seemed to rip a little more inside of him. "Thete..." he said gently, kneeling down, still a few feet away from the boy. "Thete, can I touch you? Just a little? And can I touch your mind, like I did before? If I do, I can find what's causing the pain. Once I know what it is, I can fix it. Please, Thete, let me help you."

The child looked terrified, his green eyes wide. Amy came around the corner, followed by Rory.

"Are you alright, Thete?" she asked before looking straight at the Doctor. Rory just looked concerned.

Thete nodded slowly, barely moving his head at all. It was just noticeable though. He was looking at the Doctor.

The Doctor set his jaw in determination and moved carefully forward, keeping his movements slow and careful. Gently, he reached out a hand towards his son's face. The child flinched away, but let the Doctor touch his cheek. More tears slid down the old time lord's face as he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind.

"What's he doing?" Rory asked in a loud whisper.

"How should I know?" Amy replied, her voice much quieter than his.

The Doctor used his mind to feel around the edges of Thete's barriers. 'You have to let me in, or I can't find what's wrong,' he thought gently. Thete sent out a wave of general confusion intermingled with fear and anxiety. 'You have to relax your barriers so I can get into your mind. I won't hurt you and you're completely safe. Just try to relax.'

If anything, Thete tightened up his barriers even more. He was shaking slightly under the Doctor's hand.

'Thete, you're safe and nothing will hurt you. You're going to be okay.' It took several long minutes of gentle comforting before Thete's breathing and heart rate began to slow and his mind began to relax. It took double that time for the barriers to lift enough that the Doctor could gain access without forcing anything. 'Thank you,' he thought sincerely as he slipped through.

The mind was in complete chaos and horrible disorder, and the Doctor had to work hard to hide how horrified he was by this. Nothing was calm for even a moment and it was a wonder that the boy could do anything. The Doctor moved around carefully, taking special caution to not disturb anything unnecessarily.

He felt lost in the world of spinning thoughts and emotions but eventually, he was able to notice a pattern. Lots of anger and abnormal amounts of hate seemed to be trailing away from a section of the mind. These emotions, combined with images of horrible death, destruction, and pain, were only partially confined to a specific location and were now mingling with Thete's other thoughts and emotions, coloring them with horror and apparently stirring them into chaos.

The Doctor was outraged, though he hid it well behind shields of love and comfort and regret, and wove his way nearer to the source of the terrors.

It took longer than the Doctor could have predicted, as the anger and pain seemed to reach out to stop him whenever he approached and he refused to move or even touch anything of Thete's for fear of being expelled again. He did edge closer though, bit by bit, until he was confronted by a dangerous mass of seeping evil. Evil that, while not quite resembling any species, certainly wasn't Time Lord.

Gritting his teeth, he moved back to safer ground and located a specific nerve. Guiltily, he forced Thete out of consciousness, catching the child in his arms as he went to work. He so hated to break the child's trust in this way but he hoped, if he were able to properly reduce some of the pain that was obviously caused by this mental invasion, Thete might forgive him someday.

Setting to work in a mind he no longer had to be quite so careful in, the Doctor extended his own mental shields and wove them into his sons. After what seemed like hours of work, he had forced all of the obviously foreign materials back into the hole they came from and trapped them there, completely isolating this section of the mind from the rest of his son. There was no way the Thete could even detect its presence unless the Doctor removed the shields. Unfortunately, to keep the shields in tact, the Doctor would have to maintain mind contact, which was something that obviously made Thete very uncomfortable.

Retracting most of the way from Thete's mind, he looked tearfully up at the obviously worried, tired, and bored couple and cradled his son in his arms, not having the slightest idea what he was going to do next.

* * *

_So there it is. Plot twist. :) If you have questions or comments, I'd love to see them, so please leave a review. Any kind of input is appreciated. _

_Thank you for reading!_

_-MP_


	9. Chapter 9

_I know it's short, but more should be coming soon and this was a good breaking point. thank you to all who reviewed last chapter._

_Disclaimer: If you recognize it, then it's not mine. Same goes for the last chapter. _

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 9

"Doctor, what is going on?" Amy demanded in a whisper.

"Yes, er, Doctor. Still not sure how you're real, by the way. Er, what were you doing, just now?"

The Doctor blinked slowly, trying to maintain carefully gentle contact with his son's mind without transferring what was happening outside into the delicate brain of his child. "There's something in his head," the Doctor said quietly. Anger and confusion had wiped the tearful edge from his voice and allowed some kind of reason to take over. Almost like his brain had switched todefault settings due to an overload. "I don't know what, I don't know how, and I don't know why. I don't know much of anything, really." He shook his hair out of his eyes, adjusting Thete so the boy was leaning against his shoulder. The small face was pressed against the Doctor's shirt and he had to force himself to remain calm as he held his son properly for the first time.

The Doctor looked up at Amy and Rory, who looked as consused as he felt, and he sighed, still trying desperately to not let go of direct mind contact. He gathered the small boy in his arms and stood slowly, settling the child onto his lap as he transferred his weight to the chair.

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to think of a way to handle the situation. He was panicking more than a bit, despite his necessary careful control and he had no idea what to do.

"Doctor," Amy started, "Maybe you could tell us the whole story..."

She sat in the chair across from him and Rory sunk into the seat next to her.

The Doctor took a deep breath and stopped himself from resting his head on Thete's. The boy might not know, but if he wasn't comfortable with the idea while awake, the Doctor shouldn't be taking advantage while he was sleeping.

"I'm... not sure what to say," he began. "I need... time to think. I have to... maintain mind contact. Can't let him go. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit distracted, keeping up mental shields inside someone else's head. That's not easy, you know. I..." He shook his head again, blowing at the hair flopped over his eyes. "I need you to leave."

Rory looked equal parts confused and offended. "Leave?"

Amy stood up. "Alright. Come on, Rory."

"Wait, what does he mean, 'leave'? Amy?" Rory was pulled to a stand and towards he door by the shoulder of his jumper. "Amy?"

The two were gone and the Doctor was grateful, because it gave him relative quiet to contemplate his next move.

_Rule 76: Every person has the right to the privacy of their past, thoughts, and mind in general._

_Rule 283: Family is not an excuse for anything. Families and friends are people too._

_Rule 122: I may be a doctor if everything, but that does not mean I should be allowed to do a doctor's job._

_Rule 8: Never ignore a coincidence._

It was quite obvious that the only reliable way to fix the problem was to find out what the problem was. Clearly, the problem had to have started at some time. In that case, going through his son's memories should result in finding out how the problem started, what it is, and possibly how to deal with it. Going into Thete's memories was necessary. It was important. But it was also against several of his rules.

The Doctor squeezed his eyes together again angrily. The fact that Lily had disappeared, that she wasn't here now, and that Thete now had a big piece of evil something in his head was much too big of a coincidence to ignore. Even if he was busy. Which he was. But it didn't matter because this was too important. Too important to ever ignore.

The Doctor shouldn't be rooting around in people's minds though. Even if those people were just his son. Especially if those people were his son. There wasn't anybody qualified for what he was trying to justify doing.

Thime Lords were a hive-mind species. They were always in eachother's heads. Never, though, did they go through eachother's memories or anything else. They were always there, but they never interfered. It was much too dangerous.

_Dangerous. Too dangerous. _Those thoughts kept echoing around and circling back.

But leaving that – whatever it was — there was also too dangerous. Much too dangerous.

The Doctor was not a good man. He knew that. He had rules for a reason. He should not be breaking or ignoring or bending or shoving aside those rules. He _needed_ those rules.

The rogue Time Lord growled under his breath, shifted slightly in the chair, and blinked slowly as he tried to calm his hearts and breathing. He didn't have a choice. This might mke him an awful person and Koschay-Thete would be more than justified in hating him forever for a violation like this, but whatever that was couldn't remain and, whatever the cost, the Doctor knew that he would take care of it. He had to. That boy was the last part of him—his home—Lily- He couldn't let that child suffer or be corrupted.

The Master's cries had gone unheard. Maybe if someone had stepped in and looked, he would never have been used like he was and he wouldn't have gone so thoroughly insane. Khoshay-Thete would never become another Master if the Doctor could prevent it. He had to prevent it. He couldn't let Thete suffer like that.

The Doctor closed his eyes and breathed in, trying to calm his disorganized and repeating thoughts now, as well as his body. His mind had to be clear.

He slowly shifted Thete so the child was leaned against the table and wouldn't fall and then placed his left hand on the side of the boy's face, touching the smooth, dark hair gently with his fingertips.

He took two more slow breaths with his eyes closed and then allowed himself to fall back into that still-chaotic mind that was so much a part of his own.

OOo

The Doctor carefully examined the area around him. Well, as carefully as one could examine a mess of scattered thoughts, emotions, and fleeting memories in another person's mind. He breathed deeply and tried to clear his head. Sending out a wave of general calm, he poked a bit further into the mind space.

Things were moving around a bit less than they had been before and there was less anger and hatred tainting everything. The Doctor could feel Thete, despite his unconscious state, tensing at the invasion and relaxing at the -hopeful- release of pain in equal measure. The Doctor felt horribly guilty at causing Thete any discomfort, but this was necessary. Necessary. Important.

The Doctor swallowed and began working, building up walls and shields inside the young mind to slow and coral the swirling thoughts. Stray ideas were tucked into one area, strong emotions into another, and belief structures and knowledge into one more. This left the Doctor free with memories for the moment. He knew that grouping things like this could be hazardous to a young person's mental health, but he didn't have a choice. He needed to do this. He needed information.

He felt a bead of sweat trickle down from his hairline and he faught the instinct to push it away so he could stay focused on staying in his son's mind. He swallowed carefully, tasting the blood from where he'd bit into his cheek accidently.

With a deep breath, the Doctor plunged into the memories, wincing at the pain he knew this would cause. His child, were he awake, would be in agony.

* * *

_The next update should be tomorrow or the next day. *fingers crossed* Every comment helps, so please review, my dear readers._

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


	10. Chapter 10

_I fucked up, I fucked up, I totally screwed up here, I'm sorry! I know that I said a few days, but then I got distracted and forgot all about this and I'm really, really sorry, because I actually did intend to get this update written and up then. I didn't mean to leave it until now. Please forgive me, dear readers._

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

_Enjoy!_

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CHAPTER 10

The Doctor fought through the more recent memories that assaulted his senses—Amelia and Rory, the back of a hospital (The Doctor shuddered at that), the smell of cooking pancakes and the taste of bananas. It would all be more effective if he got things in the proper linear order. Normally, linear was no fun, but today, in this case, it was important.

And there was that word again. Important. But it was. Important, that is. Incredibly so. Earth English was so imprecise. There were much better gallifreyan descriptions of this.

The Doctor pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on being careful as he moved through the dense memories. He tried not to look at them too much, but some of them jumped out at him and swallowed him up for a few moments before he could safely extract himself and keep moving.

oOo

He was running. His short legs stumbled every few steps and his feet hurt with every impact against the pavement. Breath caught in his throat and blood pumped through him faster than it should. He could feel caked dirt covering most of his left side. Glasses were pushed onto his face haphazardly, though they seemed to be impairing his vision more than anything, spidery cracks obscuring the view through the lenses, mud tinting the glass, and frames sitting crooked on his face.

He drew another shuddering breath and felt cold creep over him as he fell into another puddle. His glasses fell and he left them behind, determinately not looking behind him as he scrambled back to his feet and kept running.

oOo

He eased himself out of that memory before it could go any further and only relaxed for a moment in the mindscape before pushing forwards, using great effort to maintain delicacy.

The Doctor carefully took three slow, deep breaths before moving on.

He got pulled into and pulled himself out of several scenes before he managed to work his way to the oldest parts so he could go through things in the proper order and get the full story. It wasn't complete because the Doctor couldn't bear to look at the details, but it a clear enough.

OOo

The Doctor ran his fingers through his head and shook it back and forth. _No, no, no, no, no..._ he thought. He tried to breathe, but the air kept getting caught in his throat. He hugged himself tightly, curling most of his mind in onto itself and maintaining only minimal contact with his son's. He squeezed his eyes shut and rocked back and forth unconsciously. He was old—so very, very old—but never before had he experienced such regret. His actions had directly led to the deaths of hundreds of billions, including much of his own family, but it didn't compare. Maybe it had, once. Maybe it had been worse than this, but now it was all faded with time, and all that was left was his overwhelming guilt over what he had allowed to happen to the small boy in front of him. The small boy who was not yet even eight years old. The small boy who should have been growing up happy and healthy and protected by him.

Koschay-Thete had every right to be traumatized. It was a miracle indeed that he wasn't broken entirely. There might still be hope for his recovery, but the future was looking bleak.

"Get yourself together!" the Doctor scolded himself out loud. "This is no time to be falling apart."

Koschay-Thete had spent several months with a man with hazel eyes, black hair, and glasses and Lily—dearest Lily—who was acting nothing like herself. In the memories, Lily had appeared frightened, but controlled. Almost like many of the actions she took were not her own. James Potter—for that was who the man was—seemed to love Thete deeply and called him Harry. That was undoubtedly where he'd gotten the dreadful human name, despite Lily calling him Koshay, or Thete to a lesser extent, when no one else was around. It was like the man didn't realize that Lily wasn't really his wife and Thete wasn't actually his son.

The clearest early memories were the last ones of that place. Screams, laughs, and green light flooded the senses. That was when a piece of a dark wizard's soul was attached to Thete's head.

The Doctor didn't know how to remove it, but research might be able to solve the problem. The TARDIS would help.

Thete had been left though, after that night. The house wasn't even properly investigated for days after the incident. A kindly old neighbor had heard his cries and taken him in for a while. It was less than five years later that that dark wizards attacked and killed the poor old woman, Thete just barely escaping. He'd lived on the streets ever since—seeing things he never should have seen and doing things he never should have had to do. When Rory had found him out behind the hospital, it had been the best thing that had ever happened to the child.

The Doctor still had no idea what had happened to Lily or why she and Thete had been put into that position, but it didn't matter. Not immediately. What mattered was getting that piece of splintered being off of his son's mind and then getting the boy to proper health. His son had probably never been healthy before in his life.

The old Time Lord knew that his clothes were probably soaked through with the tears that just kept falling, but he didn't pay it any attention. He tucked the frail child up under his chin with one arm and walked steadily out through the garden to the TARDIS.

The old girl greeted them with a curious, welcoming, and deeply concerned sigh. The Doctor brushed knowingly against the consol as he passed it and continued on through the opposite door, begging for his ship to help lead him to the probably relocated medical bay.

He laid the young Time Lord down on a bed, vaguely hearing a loud knocking and yelling at the outside door and ignoring it, and set about programming the medical devices. It was with great regret that he slowly inserted a needle into a blood vessel. His boy should never have needed this kind of medical attention. Never.

He sat carefully by the bed, holding a small hand protectively as he searched through the library for clues and any info using the data tablet he had placed on his lap.

He only got up once, straining to maintain the mind contact without the physical connection, to get food. As he ate the bar, he couldn't help but think that it was lacking all taste and the texture was appalling. It wasn't important though.

Thete was important. This research was important. Getting Thete better was what was important.

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_Please review? I'd really appreciate it. _

_Thank you for reading!_

_-MP_


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